92 airlines on EU aviation blacklist

The European Commission on Wednesday issued the first EU-wide aviation blacklist which banned 92 airlines from using EU airports or from flying into EU airspace.

Most of the airlines belong to African countries including Congo, Swaziland, Rwanda and Equatorial Guinea. A Libyan airline, Buraq Air is also included. The list will be updated every three months.

Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said the European Union now has a coherent approach to banning airlines. He said the blacklist will keep dubious airlines out of Europe and will also make sure that all airlines operating in Europe's skies meet the highest safety standards.

Bans and operational restrictions are only imposed based on evidence of violation of objective and transparent criteria. Among the criteria are the use of poorly maintained, antiquated or obsolete aircraft, the inability of the airlines to rectify shortcomings identified during inspections and the inability of the authority responsible for overseeing an airline to perform its task properly.

The Commission said member states reported that five countries have an inadequate system for regulatory oversight. One important consequence of the blacklist will be to root out the practice of flags of convenience whereby some countries issue Air Operation Certificates to dubious airline companies.

In the past Malta had no aviation blacklist and all airlines were allowed to use its airport facilities. It submitted no names for the list.